


Cupid's Classroom

by Xyzcl



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Disabled Sora, If Ansem was any denser he would sink in water, M/M, Side Replica Riku/Namine, Side Sora/Riku - Freeform, Teacher AU, This was supposed to just be a short oneshot but here we are, Valentine's Day, mentions of past cheating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29454978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyzcl/pseuds/Xyzcl
Summary: Ansem despises Valentine's Day. After his mother abandoned him and his brothers for the man she was cheating on their father with on the holiday when his brothers were barely able to even understand that their mother was never coming back, he swore he was never going to celebrate the holiday ever again. Ventus had always found a way to make "never" not seem so permanent though and when Riku and Ritsu decide they're going out for Valentine's Day weekend with their partners, could Ven find a way to make the holiday not seem so bad?
Relationships: Ansem Seeker of Darkness | Xehanort's Heartless/Ventus
Kudos: 3





	Cupid's Classroom

**Author's Note:**

> I swore I wasn't going to let myself get into yet another rarepair, I also swore this was going to just be a short oneshot. And yet, here we are. I can only blame myself for this reaching 9k words in the first chapter but at the same time, I regret nothing.

The chatter of the students around the classroom as they filed in and settled down at their desks, all of them chatting about their plans for the overly messy holiday that was coming up soon and their plans for during school. Ansem let out a sigh as he listened to them, knowing well that there would be students who had nothing on that day now that they weren’t required to give cards to all of their classmates any longer. Valentine’s Day was one of the very few days a year that he wished he was an elementary school teacher instead of a high school physical education and health teacher. He was still mad at the vice principal for giving him a homeroom class that year, the raise didn’t make up for the extra hour he had to deal with some of the more frustrating students he’d dealt with since the beginning of the year. Hearing the bell ring to announce that all students not in class were tardy, he walked over to the door of the classroom to make sure no one was on their way to his room before closing the door. The students all quieted down as he made his way towards the front of the room again and adjusted his glasses before opening the attendance file on his laptop. He looked around, nodding to each of his students to let them know he registered their presence before submitting attendance and closing his laptop. 

“Anyone have any questions before you all break off into groups?” Ansem asked from where he was standing as he looked over the students he was in charge of watching.

One of the students closer to the back of the classroom, a girl who rarely asked any questions of him, raised her hand to ask something. Ansem nodded in her direction to let her know she could speak and she put her hand down.

“Mr. Tenebris, can we make Valentine’s Day cards for the staff and special ed students?” she asked while looking around awkwardly when she noticed all of the class looking at her. 

One of the boys at the front of the classroom jumped in excitedly. “That sounds awesome! We could get craft stuff from the art room or make cards we can email to the staff in the library!”

Ansem let out a quiet sigh, knowing it wasn’t really quite that simple. First he would have to talk to the art teachers to see if they were okay with his homeroom class raiding their craft supplies, then he would have to talk to the librarians to see if any other teachers had reserved the library computer lab or the modular computer lab, and finally if he had the bad luck to end up only being able to get into the shitty modular lab on the other end of the school with computers that hadn’t been updated since some of these kids were born, he’d have to break the bad news that they were all about to have a really shitty day. 

“I’ll see what I can do, alright?” Ansem replied once he saw how excited his class was getting. “I’ll call the art room and see if either of the teachers will let us use some of their supplies, get into groups and start dividing the workload while I’m on the phone. Try not to get too loud while I’m on the phone.” 

The students all rearranged the desks to break off into groups, putting together lists of who would be working on gifts for which department. He kept an eye on them to make sure they didn’t start trouble for another short moment before walking over to his desk and sitting in his chair before dialing the extension to the classroom of the one art teacher he could handle speaking to longer than the other. Axel was a nice guy, Ansem just couldn’t stand talking to him for longer than he absolutely had to.

_ “Hello?” _ the familiar voice asked from the other end of the phone as he picked up.

“Hi Ventus, I have a question for you. My class wants to make cards for the staff and the special ed class, do you have any craft supplies they can use?” Ansem asked as he looked over to watch all of his students staring at him while he waited for them to get an answer. 

_ “That sounds like fun! Yeah, I’ll get some more chairs so they can work on things here, I might need your help finding a place to put their projects though.” _

“We’ll find a spot to put them when I get there. See you in a few minutes.”

_ “See you soon!” _

Ansem returned his phone to the receiver and looked up at his students, seeing their excited looks as he nodded to them to let them all know it had gone well. “Ven said we could join his homeroom class, grab your things and behave.”

The students all packed their things back into their backpacks, lining up by the door patiently so they wouldn’t frustrate their teacher and cause him to change his mind. Ansem grabbed his planner and his keyring before walking over to the door of the classroom, holding the door open for his students to make their way down the hall towards the fine art wing of the school, only closing the door once the final student had made their way out into the hall before following along behind them. Ventus was propping the door to his classroom open with a door stop when they arrived by his classroom, smiling happily as he stepped aside for them to go inside the larger of the two art rooms. Ansem waited until both of the homeroom classes had settled down together before motioning for the other teacher to step out into the hall with him for a chat.

“Thanks for letting them come down on such short notice.” Ansem whispered with a glance to make sure none of his students were causing trouble.

“No problem! My class has been getting pretty bored recently so I’m just glad this’ll give them something to do for a little while.” Ventus replied with his usual blindingly bright smile that always made the other teacher pause. “Since they’ll be making cards for us too, do you think we should give them some space?”

“Not too much space, teenagers and scissors don’t always mix.” Ansem replied flatly before stepping into the classroom. “Do you have any empty boxes we can store their cards in? It might make it easier to keep things organized that way.”

Ventus nodded, letting his classroom door close before leading the way into the art supply closet so his coworker could help him grab things. “There’s a couple empty boxes on the top shelf, I can’t reach them though.”

Ansem let out a quiet hum when he saw how high up the boxes were. He was a decent amount taller than Ventus was and yet, without anything to stand on safely there was no way he was going to get the boxes on his own either.

“How do you feel about being picked up?” Ansem asked while he mentally debated whether or not they would be able to pull this off without any of their superiors finding out their unsafe way of handling the situation. 

Ven’s face tinted a shade of pink before he replied quickly. “I’m fine with it! Are you sure though? I probably weigh a lot more than your younger brothers do.”

“It’s fine, just don’t squirm and I won’t drop you.” the white haired man promised before moving to kneel down.

He could see Ventus reacting in a way that seemed almost embarrassed and waited for him to calm down before lifting his coworker up onto his shoulders. Ansem held onto the smaller man’s legs to keep him stable, feeling hands grip his hair while Ven adjusted to suddenly being so high up. Once he was sure the other man wasn’t going to panic, Ansem made his way carefully over towards where the boxes were and standing as close to the shelving as he could so his coworker would be able to grab the boxes without leaning dangerously. Ventus threw the first empty box over towards the entrance of the closet before grabbing the second one and throwing it towards the first. Once he felt hands holding onto his hair again, Ansem carefully took a few steps back before kneeling down again so the blond could place his feet on the ground once again.

“Thank you for not dropping me! I guess I never realized just how strong you are until now.” Ventus noted, his cheeks and ears still a shade of pink as he caught his breath to calm down before moving to grab one of the two boxes. 

Ansem nodded, grabbing the other box before following his coworker back out to where the students were all diligently working away on planning out their cards. All of them were working so quietly that at first, he was sure they were up to something. When they saw the two teachers though, they started calling them over to ask them about what certain staff members liked. Ansem and Ventus both played the game of 20 questions with their students, going from group to group giving as much information as they could about each of their coworkers and attempting to give information about the likes and dislikes of the special education students from their minimal interactions they’d had over the time they’d been there. After a while, Ansem was frustrated with how many questions they were asking about students he barely knew and sat down on a barstool with the group of students who were working on cards for their fellow classmates. Ventus joined him after a moment and both of them settled in to help the students decide what kind of cards they should make for the other students. 

“Try not to make the cards in neon colors or too complicated. If you’re gonna write something in the cards, don’t make it too complicated or add too much slang.” Ansem explained while he tried to think of something that would be least likely to make the other students upset. 

“If you can draw cute animals on the cards, I’m sure they’d all like that.” Ventus explained while he read over the notes the group had made. “I might still have some stickers Sora gave me a few years ago you could use.”

Ansem thought for a moment, recalling something Sora had told him about the students before. “If you choose to put money into buying candy for any of the cards, make sure it's not something easy to choke on. Try something like gummy lifesavers.”

The students continued making their notes, all but shooing their teachers away. Ansem and Ventus quickly found their students all attempting to keep them away from the projects they were working on and realized quickly that they were trying to hide whatever was being worked on for them. Ventus opened the door to his office, grabbing one of the stools for himself to sit on so Ansem could use the comfortable chair that was already in the room.

“I’ll use the stool.” Ansem mumbled as he took the stool from his coworker before settling down in the office. 

“Are you sure?” Ventus asked, seeming to feel a little guilty about not having another comfortable chair.

Ansem nodded and leaned back against the office wall before letting out a quiet sigh. “It’s your classroom, you should be comfortable.”

Ventus smiled and thanked his coworker before settling down in his chair. “How long do you think they’ll be working on their cards?” 

“Valentine’s Day is on Friday, they’ll probably be working on them all week.” Ansem replied while he thought about the whole situation. “I’ve never been big on the whole holiday but if it keeps them from causing trouble, that’s good enough.”

“You can all keep coming here until they’re done if you want.” the art teacher offered while he opened his laptop and signed in. “It’ll be easier for everyone that way.”

Ansem nodded, trying unsuccessfully to bite back a yawn as he glanced back out towards the students to make sure they weren’t causing problems. Ventus noticed his coworker’s yawn and spun his desk chair around so he could get at the shelving behind his desk. 

“Do you drink coffee?” Ventus asked while he dug through the drawer he kept his coffee supplies in to pull out a pack of paper coffee cups and a box of keurig pods. 

Ansem nodded as he shifted to where he was facing his coworker properly. Ventus offered him the box so he could look through the options, having picked a caramel flavored pod himself, and Ansem prodded the pods still in the box to read the flavor name on the foil tops of each of them. Settling on a vanilla one, he removed it from the box before returning the box to the drawer his coworker had removed it from. The two of them sat in a comfortable near silence as they waited for their coffee to brew while they listened for the sound of something going wrong in the classroom. Ansem sipped his coffee, watching as Ven opened a web browser and started going through his emails to see if there was anything important they needed to know. 

“Looks like the principal wants to get the staff something for Valentine’s Day.” Ventus noted as he opened an email from their boss. “Wanna fill it out here with me or wait until you’re in your room again?”

“I’ll fill it out here, I really don’t care about it so just a box of conversation hearts should be fine.” Ansem replied casually without worrying about how that could sound to his coworker. 

Ventus nodded and added the note in his emailed reply what his coworker had said. The two of them had known each other for years due to Ansem’s younger brothers dating his stepbrother and half sister, he knew Ventus understood his distaste for the romantic holiday. After sending off the email, Ven turned to his coworker and picked up his coffee cup.

“We should probably go back out there to keep an eye on them.” the blond explained as he stood up. 

Ansem nodded in agreement, following his coworker back out into the classroom so they could keep an eye on the students and help out with what they would allow them to help them with. As the students started getting antsy, Ansem glanced up at the clock and noticed it was almost time for the period to end. He grabbed one of the empty boxes and set it on top of the closest table.

“You can put your cards in here, make sure to keep everything organized so it won’t take forever to find them tomorrow. No running in the halls on the way to lunch.” he explained while making his way back over to where his coworker was standing. 

  
  
  


Ansem hung his jacket up behind his front door, kicking off his shoes before making his way to his living room. He could hear his brothers arguing about their homework in the dining room and attempted to ignore it since they were just arguing about which class was more important to finish their homework for first. They both knew he had arrived home and he waited for them to inevitably come out and ask him for help with something, turning on the tv to try and pretend he wasn’t about to be asked a super ridiculous question. He made it a record fifteen minutes before they both bolted out into the living room and jumped on the couch to join him for their usual routine of watching cooking competition shows after getting home. 

“Hey, Ansem? What are you gonna do on Friday?” Riku asked while he pulled his legs up onto the couch and sitting with them crossed. 

Ansem shrugged and let out a quiet yawn. “I’ll probably just order a pizza or something since you two are gonna be out until Sunday and catch up on some of the sleep I’ve lost over the past few months.”

“You’re really not doing anything this weekend?” Ritsu asked, piping in while his twin was slack jawed in shock. “Come on, it’s been 12 years since mom did what she did, you shouldn’t just not have fun because she’s a bitch.”

“I just really don’t care for the holiday, mom be damned. Sure, her leaving us for her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day sucked, but it’s not like I really liked the holiday before that.” Ansem explained before firmly placing his hands on top of his younger brothers’ heads and mussing their hair. “Besides, if I wanna give someone chocolates or something like that, I can always just give you two something. Mom might’ve left us and dad might be too busy with work to spend time with us but we’ve been fine on our own and we always will be. I love you both and making sure you two are healthy and happy is always gonna be more important than having some random person come over to spend the night one day out of the year.”

He could see that his answer upset both of his brothers and if he was honest, he couldn’t blame them. He’d completely given up on dating when their mom had come home for the last time with her boyfriend, telling their father she was leaving and not even waiting for the divorce proceedings before taking off with the man she’d been cheating on their father with. She had kept her promise at the very least, she never came back around the house. That was the last time any of them had seen their mother since at the very least, their father had made sure she couldn’t hurt the three of them again by keeping them out of the divorce court. Ansem had seen the transcripts from that day though, he knew that his mother had signed away her rights without a fight. She didn’t want them and she had made it very clear. He didn’t want to go through that again with someone else, to have them suddenly decide they hated being around him and that they wanted to leave for someone else. The fact that his brothers had trusted Sora and Namine enough to date them was enough for him, his brothers were happy and at the end of the day, that’s all that mattered to him. It was definitely a more cynical way of seeing things than what anyone had expected of him when he was their age but now he couldn’t see his life going any other way. 

“Do you two need to pick up anything for Sora and Namine still?” Ansem asked while he moved back to how he was sitting before.

“I’ve gotta pick up some flowers but I wanna wait until Friday morning for that.” Riku explained, looking over a checklist in his notes app on his phone.

“I was thinking about balloons for Namine, I’ll pick them up Thursday night since they’re gonna be a pain in the ass to bring home.” Ritsu explained while he settled in on the couch. “Are you sure you don’t wanna get anything for anyone?”

Ansem thought for a moment before shaking his head. “I can’t think of anyone.”

“If anyone wanted to get you something and take you out to dinner though, would you go with them?” Ritsu asked, his older twin nodding in agreement. 

“I’ve got nothing better to do, if it’s someone I already know then sure. Just…not a woman.” Ansem replied before reaching for the remote to turn off the tv. “I’m gonna get changed, how about you two think of what you want for dinner.”

“Can we invite Sora, Namine, and Ven for dinner?” Riku asked in a way that made it obvious he was planning something.

“Only if you two are cooking.” Ansem replied, mildly curious about whatever plot his brothers were coming up with.

“Easy enough. Wear something nice today, would you?” Ritsu called back down the hall. 

“Fine, fine.” Ansem mumbled, locking his bedroom door behind him out of habit. 

He made his way over to his dresser, looking through the array of well worn clothes he’d been cycling through for the past three years. New clothes for around the house and his days off weren’t important when compared to making sure his still growing brothers had clothes that fit them properly. Just in the past year, they had each blown out the sides of no less than three pairs of shoes after thinking they only needed to go up half a size like when they were younger. He, however, had finished growing while he was in college and didn’t have to worry about his clothes becoming too small overnight. Ansem pulled out one of his less worn pairs of dark jeans and a plain maroon shirt, tossing them onto his bed before shutting the dresser drawer he had opened. He could hear his brothers out in the living room on a speaker call with their partners and quickly changed into his more casual clothes before tossing the clothes he had worn to work into the dirty laundry hamper inside his en suite, sitting on the edge of his bed while he thought about what he was going to do next. It was obvious his brothers were worried about his future. He was a single high school teacher with a high level of distrust when it came to relationships, it was obvious they wanted him to find someone so he wouldn’t be completely alone when they inevitably moved out in a few years. They were close to turning 16, once they were out of high school there was nothing keeping them there anymore and they both had plans to go to out of state colleges with their friends and partners. He knew they just wanted to know he was going to be safe when the two of them left him alone in the house but dating for the first time since they were little kids was something he wasn’t sure he would be able to handle. Where would he even start? Was there anyone who would even be interested in someone like him who was so focused on taking care of his brothers that he hadn’t even thought of looking at anyone romantically for the longest time. Shaking his head to clear it, Ansem reached down to slide open the drawer under his bed that held his socks and grabbed a random pair, pulling them on before kicking the drawer closed and making his way out to rejoin his brothers in the living room. 

“Figure out what you’re making tonight?” he asked when he saw his brothers making a list on a piece of notebook paper they’d grabbed from one of their binders. 

“Yeah, we just need to pick up some stuff from the grocery store. Ven said they’ll all be over in about an hour.” Ritsu explained while he was calculating about how much the ingredients would cost in total. “Can you drive us to the store so we can keep number crunching?”

“Sure.” Ansem replied casually. 

He walked over to the entryway, pulling on one of his pairs of well worn tennis shoes and grabbing his keyring from his work jacket’s pocket. His brothers followed behind him, pulling on their own shoes before they all filed out of the house and into the eldest brother’s car at the back of the driveway. Ansem checked to make sure his brothers were buckled in before starting the car and making his way to the nearby grocery store he was sure his brothers wanted to go to. The drive was calm with only light traffic and as he pulled into the parking lot, he was surprised to see the familiar sight of Ven’s car parked in the handicap space right beside the cart rail. He parked in a way that made sure no entitled jerks could block the side of the car that the wheelchair ramp was on before looking back at his brothers.

“Looks like you two can work out your dinner plans a little more with your partners. Come on, let’s go see if we can find them.” Ansem explained before unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the car with his keys in hand. 

The two teenagers in the back seats climbed out excitedly, closing their doors behind them as they carefully hurried up to the entrance of the store. Ansem locked his car doors with the button on his keyfob before following behind them. He pocketed his keys, grabbing a shopping cart when he stepped inside the entrance while he followed behind his excited brothers. It didn’t take them long to run into the three people they were looking for as the three of them were debating over which package of strawberries looked the ripest. When Ventus spotted them, he set the package he was holding back into the cooler display before motioning for the two teens he was with to turn around. 

“Riku!” Sora yelled excitedly, moving to push his wheelchair before the twins caught up with the other group. 

Ventus made his way past the gaggle of excited high schoolers and over to where Ansem was standing with a shopping cart. “If I knew you were all coming I would’ve picked a better parking spot.”

“I parked next to you so there’s not enough space for any entitled people to take over the space Sora needs to get into the car.” Ansem explained, looking up at the group of teenagers and making sure he was following behind them as they made their way through the store. “Riku and Ritsu are cooking tonight so I have just as much of an idea what’s for dinner as the rest of you do.” 

Ventus let out a laugh while he followed along beside his coworker. “They were so excited when they called and I agreed that we could come over for dinner.”

Ansem nodded in agreement as he continued to follow along behind the teenagers. He had an idea and mentally mulled over what to say, pausing a little way away from his and Ven’s siblings so they couldn’t hear what he was about to ask. 

“Do you have any plans for this weekend?” Ansem asked as casually as he could. 

“After dropping these four off at the resort? Not really.” Ventus answered, his ears tinting pink as he figured out why he was being asked about his plans. 

“Do you wanna get something to eat Friday night and watch a movie?” the taller man asked, leaning over the handle of the cart. 

“I’d love to!” Ven replied excitedly with a smile as bright as the sun. 

Ansem nodded and smiled at the other man. “I’ll pick you up Friday night.”

“How about I come over to your place after dropping everyone off at the resort instead? We’ll save gas money that way since your place is closer than mine.” Ventus offered while the two of them moved to the next aisle with their siblings. 

“Sounds good to me.”

The group made their way through the store, engaging in idle conversation while the twins picked out the ingredients for the meal they were going to make. Ansem held back a groan of dismay as he was led into the horribly gaudy looking aisle filled with Valentine’s candies, stuffed animals, cards, and balloons. He hadn’t willingly gone down that type of aisle before everything was marked down in so many years that he was almost uncomfortable. That year was going to be different though, he was going to make sure of it. He’d already put out the effort to ask someone out on a date, now he just wanted to make sure Ven had something to show other than the chance of disappointment that came with the risk of going out to eat on Valentine’s Day. Ansem looked around at what was there, thinking back to when he and Ven were teenagers themselves when they had traded gifts for the last time. Did he still like stuffed animals? Did he still dislike dark chocolate? If he got him flowers, would he be allergic to them? Ansem decided that the gift debate was something he would have to come back to the store later on his own so he wouldn’t have to worry about the embarrassment that came with picking out something that Ventus inevitably didn’t like. The group of teenagers picked out some of the bags of bulk candies stores were selling on the shelves that were eye level with small children. The rest of the trip through the store lasted a quick fifteen minutes as Riku and Ritsu picked out the rest of the ingredients for the meal they had planned, the whole group settling on an assorted pack of muffins for dessert on their way to the front registers. Ansem grabbed a pack of Rollo chocolates, recalling that Ven liked them and added them to the pile before shooing away the rest of the group to go get into the cars. 

“I can drive them all to your place, are you sure you can handle the groceries on your own?” Ventus asked, letting out a little squeak as the pack of Rollo was thrown at him after the cashier scanned it. 

“I’ll be fine. I’ll catch up with you all in a few minutes.” Ansem replied, looking over at his younger brothers. “Behave you two.”

“We will.” the twins replied in unison while they raced off to Ven’s car with their partners. 

Ansem waited patiently for the cashier to finish scanning his groceries, paying for everything before piling the bags back into his shopping cart. He thanked the cashier, accepting the receipt that was handed to him before making his way out to his own car. Piling the bags into his trunk didn’t take long and due to where he had chosen to park, it only took him a moment to return his cart to the cart corral. His drive home was the quietest he’d had on his way back from the grocery store in a long time in a way that was almost uncomfortable. He turned on the radio to whatever station his brothers had set it to last and listened to the random station while he finished the short drive to his house. The sight of his coworker’s minivan in his driveway was a welcome one as he pulled in beside it on the driver’s side, making sure Sora would be able to get into the car when they all made their way home. His brothers ran out when they heard his car pull in, making their way to the trunk as Ansem killed the engine and popped the trunk. He watched the two of them fight to carry all of the bags inside in one trip, trying not to laugh while he watched how ridiculous it all was. The sight was definitely one he would miss when they left but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he climbed out of the car and locked it behind him on his way up to his front door.

“Welcome home.” Ventus greeted from the couch where he was sitting with his stepbrother and half sister. 

“Thanks.” Ansem replied with a smile, kicking off his shoes before making his way over to the couch, leaning over the back of it to see what was going on. “Find a movie you wanna watch Sora?” 

Sora nodded as he looked through the list on Netflix, picking the live action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and turning it on. “Thanks for letting us come over for dinner Mr. Tenebris!”

“Just call me Ansem, I’m not your teacher kiddo.” Ansem replied, mussing his brother’s boyfriend’s hair. “How are you feeling today? I heard you got a new record at PT recently for how far you walked, good job!”

“Thanks! I’ve still got a long way to go before I can walk around normally again but I’ve had a lot less trouble with stomach problems recently and my doctor said I might not need a pacemaker after all!” Sora replied with a proud look on his face. “I might be able to go to Disney with Riku like we planned when we graduate in a few years.”

“You might not be able to go on any of the rides, are you sure you’d be fine with that?” Ansem asked, wanting to make absolutely sure the teenager was aware of his situation.

“The rides don’t matter to me, I didn’t really like fast rides anyway. Taking pictures with the mascots and going around the park with Riku is enough for me. Besides, I can always go on some of the milder rides with him!” 

There truly wasn’t anything that could dampen Sora’s spirit, it was something that Ansem appreciated with how reclusive Riku tended to be. When his brothers had first been transferred into a private school by their father, he’d been afraid they’d both be too isolated from reality to make friends. Sora and Namine had broken them both out of the depressed slump they’d both been in from losing their mother, watching the four of them interact while his brothers cooked made it even clearer to him why they were trying to get him to go out on Valentine’s Day. They’d both managed to move on and find their own happiness while he was still stuck in the past trying to make up for someone else’s mistake. 

It was time for him to find his own happiness.

  
  
  


The week went by quickly with only the occasional interruption from his gym classes begging to be allowed to play games instead of doing the normal daily activities. On Friday, he finally caved in and agreed to let them all play dodgeball as long as they all understood that all the school had at the moment were the foam volleyballs that were being stored there while the school was working out how to get new foam dodgeballs. The students didn’t care and as soon as he had them all sorted out into two teams, they all started playing with an energy level he wished they’d have during the track and field unit they were currently in. He sat on the bleachers, keeping his clipboard and whistle close in case he needed to intervene. The door to the gym opened and Ansem turned to see the familiar blond art teacher sneaking in and climbing up to sit with him. 

“Hey Ven, is something up?” Ansem asked when his friend sat down beside him.

Ventus shook his head, smiling as he got as comfortable as he could on the hard plastic bleacher seat. “I don’t have a first period class and wanted to see you. It’s quiet there first thing in the morning.” 

“You’re always welcome to come down for first period, just don’t be surprised if the kids try to get you to play dodgeball with them.” Ansem warned before looking down at the students who were excitedly waving at the art teacher.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ventus replied with a laugh, waving back at the students before they went back to their game of dodgeball. “Are you still sure you wanna go out tonight? I know you haven’t done anything on Valentine’s Day since....”

Ansem shook his head before patting his coworker’s back. “It’ll be fine. Besides, who else would put up with me on a couple’s holiday?”

Ventus let out a laugh before shaking his head. “What was the plan for handing out those cards the students made?”

“They got the help of the vice principal and one of the janitors, they’re delivering the teachers’ and students’ to their classrooms while we’re all at lunch and the rest of the staff got theirs this morning.” Ansem explained while the two teachers watched the students to make sure they didn’t hurt each other or cheat. “I’ve got a bowl of candy in my office down in the boy’s locker room, think you can grab it for me real quick?”

“Surprising your students?” Ventus asked as he moved to stand up. 

“Yep.” the taller man replied before handing over his lanyard to his coworker so he could unlock his office door. 

He watched Ventus make his way cautiously around the gym and down the stairwell that led to the locker room. The students were surprisingly polite about making sure their art teacher didn’t accidentally get pegged with one of the heavy foam balls on accident, leaving him proud that they were behaving themselves for once. Maybe it was because they had finally gotten what they wanted? Or maybe it was because they all really liked the art teacher? He wasn’t about to ask them, he didn’t really care about their motivation as long as they didn’t hurt anyone by accident. After a few minutes and the start of another round of dodgeball, Ventus made his way back up towards the bleachers decorated with the gaudy red bowl with pink and white hearts filled almost to the top with fun size candy bars, being cautious while the students were obviously excited at the sight of the bowl. Ansem wasn’t known for giving out treats to students so of course his class was going to be excited by the sight of the holiday themed bowl. Ansem thanked him for the reconnaissance mission, passing his coworker a Kit-Kat bar before returning his lanyard to its spot around his neck. Once it was time for his students to do their cool down stretches, he blew his whistle to signal they all needed to put away the volleyballs they were using before making his way down the bleachers. Each of the students happily picked out the single piece of candy they were allotted before sitting down and doing their stretches, hurrying down to the locker rooms to change back into their casual clothes while the teachers stayed up by the bleachers.

“So I got us a reservation at that one restaurant downtown, Scrooge’s or whatever it’s called.” Ansem explained as casually as he could. “I got a couple bottles of wine since we can’t drink at the restaurant and a couple of cheesy rom coms my brothers helped me pick out.”

“Are you asking me to stay the night?” Ventus asked, his face a shade of red Ansem wasn’t prepared for.

“I...yeah, I am.” Ansem admitted, feeling his own ears heat up. 

“I’ll make sure to pack an overnight bag.” Ventus replied, glancing around to make sure all of the students were still down in the locker rooms before quickly kissing his friend’s cheek. “I’ll see you tonight!”

“See you tonight.” 

Ansem watched as his coworker made his way quickly out of the gym, taking a deep breath to compose himself so his students didn’t see him flustered at all. He needed to try and stay as calm as he could even if he was internally panicking from being kissed by someone else for the first time in over a decade. He sent them all out two minutes before the bell rang so they could get to their other classes in time, making his way down to his office with his bowl of candy to cool off in the much colder air of the basement locker room. He knew very well he was about to have a long school day. 

His second and third period gym classes went mostly the same as the first period with his students getting excited about dodgeball and candy, the only real difference being the lack of his favorite blond art teacher sitting on the bleachers with him. After his third period class made their way out to lunch, he made his way down to the locker room to take a shower and change. The showers were rarely used by students so he wasn’t surprised when it took a few moments for the hot water heater to accept that there was in fact someone using one of the showers. There was something about taking a shower in the cramped stalls that was overwhelmingly amusing and he couldn’t wait for that summer when the district had agreed to finally remodel the locker rooms so they could update the lockers, showers, and toilet stalls for the first time in 30 years. He dried his hair on his way back to his office, double checking to make sure no one had entered the locker room before changing into his nicer pair of denim jeans and the t-shirt from the school store the principal had given him to wear on casual Fridays so that he wasn’t the only teacher still wearing a dress shirt and khakis on the one day that the rest of the staff was dressed casually. He slipped his shoes back on, pulling on his lanyard and making his way up to the staff room so he could eat his lunch. The principal had ordered pizza for the staff from one of the local pizza chains and once Ansem had picked out his three slices of pizza and his bottle of water, he made his way out of the crowded staff room towards the cafeteria to get a coffee from the school coffee shop. 

“Good afternoon Mr. Tenebris! Someone already paid for your usual drink and two cookies, they’ll be ready for you in a minute.” the student at the cashier called out when they spotted him waiting at the back of the line. 

Ansem was surprised but stepped aside to where students who had already ordered were waiting for their drinks, taking a bite of one of his slices of chicken bacon parmesan pizza while he waited patiently. One of the students working at the coffee shop called him over, handing him his cup of coffee and a bag with two freshly baked M&M cookies. The cup had hearts drawn on it with red and pink sharpie, a festive “Happy Valentine’s Day” written in Ven’s handwriting on the cup. It was cheesy but definitely something he knew his friend would do, just a little sweet gesture that made everything more interesting. Deciding to see if the art teacher was eating lunch in his classroom again, Ansem made his way to the other end of the school and knocked on the door of the larger of the two art rooms. It took a moment for the blond to answer the door but once it opened, he found himself greeted with one of Ven’s bright smiles. 

“You busy?” Ansem asked once his friend answered the door. 

“Nope, just eating lunch.” Ventus replied before opening the door the rest of the way so his coworker could enter the classroom. 

Ansem made his way over to the table where his friend’s plate and cup of coffee were setting, sitting down across from his seat so they could face each other while they spoke. “How did you know what coffee I get from the school store?”

“The students told me you usually order the same thing so I just ordered that.” Ventus replied honestly, settling back into his seat. 

“Thanks, I definitely needed it.” Ansem replied, taking a deep swig of his coffee before letting out a content sigh. 

The two of them ate in a peaceful silence, just appreciating the other’s presence while they took the time to relax without the interruption of their students or overbearing coworkers. It was one of the nicest lunch breaks Ansem could remember having throughout his entire professional life. When the first bell rang to notify everyone that lunch was over, Ansem didn’t want to get up and leave. He wanted to stay with the blond but knew he had to get to his class on time. 

“I don’t have a class seventh period, think I can come down here?” Ansem asked while he threw his paper plate away in one of the large art room trash cans.

“Only if you’re okay with acrylic paint and pointillism.” Ventus replied, seeming more excited by the concept of spending more time with his coworker before the day was done.

“I think I can figure it out. See you later Ven.” Ansem called out on his way down the hall, hurrying towards the science wing where his health classroom was. 

He made it to the door in time for the first warning bell notifying everyone they only had five more minutes to get to class, mentally thanking whatever member of the school board had decided to give extra time between lunch and homeroom for students to get to their classrooms as he pulled off his lanyard to unlock his door. Upon opening the door however, he froze. Inside his room, there was a large bouquet of assorted Valentine’s Day themed balloons in different shades of red, pink, white, and purple tethered down by black and gold balloon weights, a purple vase filled with chocolate roses sitting on his desk accompanied by a few boxes of heart shaped chocolate boxes, an almost embarrassingly large red teddy bear sitting in his chair, a decorative box with a glitter covered foam heart on it, and the largest box of conversation hearts he had ever seen. It looked like Cupid had broken into his classroom and assaulted his desk with the entire Walmart holiday section. Once he finally got over the shock of his desk, he finally looked around the rest of the room to see that whoever had gotten into his classroom had decorated the rest of the room with streamers and those spiral foil decorations that were hung from the ceiling, somehow stuck up with paperclips. He could see that each of the students’ desks had a normally sized box of conversation hearts on it and at the back of his classroom, on one of his bookcases where he had extra textbooks, there were two matching silver and black teddy bears sitting with a brown teddy bear in a wheelchair and a yellow teddy bear holding a sketchbook. Once he saw those bears, he let out a much louder groan of dismay than he realized as he realized who had assaulted his classroom with “festive spirit”. He propped open his classroom door with the doorstop so his students could file in on their own time, taking the set of four teddy bears to his desk to set them in the last space free enough for them to all sit together while he could still do his job. After all of his students made their way into the room, all of them taking the time to register exactly what was going on while Ansem reorganized the gifts on his desk so he could work, setting the large teddy bear on an extra chair and setting a textbook in its arms so that it looked more like it belonged there. Once the final bell rang and the last of his students filed in for homeroom, he closed the classroom door before making his way back over to his desk. He took attendance quickly and sent it off before sitting in his chair.

“You’re probably all wondering what’s going on here.” he started while his students all stared at him in stunned silence. “To be honest, I have no clue what happened. Best guess I can give you is that one of the office ladies let my brothers in and they decorated the room while I was either at lunch or in the gym. The conversation hearts are probably from them too. Do whatever you want as long as it's within school rules and you’re not causing problems.”

  
  
  


The rest of the school day went basically the same with him explaining to each period that the choice of decor wasn’t his own, telling each of his health classes that they needed to study for their upcoming test, giving each of the students a fun size candy bar, and repeating up until the end of sixth period. Once it was time for the last period of the day, Ansem picked up one of the boxes of candy he was absolutely sure was from his younger brothers and made his way across the school to the fine art wing. He walked into Ventus’ classroom in the midst of the mob of students making their way into the room, sitting on top of the counter while he waited for everyone to file in and get ready for their last class of the day. The room also had a few decorations, nothing as gaudy as what was in his room but with a green teddy bear sitting proudly on the table in front of the room next to a purple vase filled with yellow chocolate roses. A few streamers were hung around the classroom, making it very clear that his own classroom was the main focus of the group that decided to decorate. Once the bell rang, Ventus stepped out of his office with his laptop and took attendance by calling each of his students’ names, marking off the three students who were absent before submitting the list and letting his class know that they were continuing on their pointillism projects and that they only had one week left to finish them. Once the students were all busy working away with q-tips, paint, and an assortment of sizes of pieces of thick paper usually reserved for watercolor paint, Ventus walked over to join his coworker on the counter beside the sink.

“Did your classroom get decorated too?” Ventus asked once he was settled in beside his friend.

“Worse.” Ansem replied before pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and showing the pictures he had taken of his classroom. “I have no clue who those four bribed but if it wasn’t Axel and Kairi I’ll be surprised.”

“How are you gonna get all those balloons home?” Ventus asked in shock when he saw the overwhelming number of balloons that had been forced into his coworker’s classroom.

“I’ll probably shove them all in my trunk. It’s either that or I’ll have to drive home without using my rear view mirror.” Ansem replied, letting out a sigh as he put his phone back into his pocket before handing over the box of chocolates. “Happy Valentine’s Day Ven, thanks for putting up with me for all these years.”

“I’d put up with you for the rest of my life if you’d let me.” the blond replied quietly as he accepted the chocolates that were offered to him. He nudged the taller man before looking up at him with a smile. “I need a hand getting something off one of the higher shelves in the closet again, the janitors put the paint up high again as a joke.”

“Lead the way.” Ansem replied, hopping down off the counter and making his way towards the supply closet. 

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Ventus was following along as he stepped into the closet before looking up at the upper shelves to see what was going on. As his coworker had mentioned, the large jugs of acrylic paint were indeed on one of the upper shelves. It seemed like one of the janitors had a problem with the art teacher the more he looked at how things were put up. Ventus closed the door behind him so none of the students could walk in on them, causing Ansem to raise an eyebrow in confusion at the sight. 

“I do need another jug of black paint but that’s not the only reason I asked you to come in here.” Ven admitted as he walked over to where his coworker was standing. “We should probably get the paint first though.” 

Ansem nodded and pulled his coworker back against his chest, picking him up so he could grab the jug of paint. He could hear Ven’s breath hitch as he was picked up and waited patiently for him to grab the jug of paint before setting him back down. Ventus set the jug down on one of the counter before turning around and grabbing the front of Ansem’s shirt. 

“I’m just gonna come out and say it because I’ve been dropping hints for six years now and you’re denser than one of Sora’s cupcakes. Ansem, I like you and not in a way that’s like friends. I didn’t want to say anything because I know how you get about romantic relationships and I’d rather spend the rest of my life stuck as your friend than have you never want to talk to me again but I just....I needed to finally say it.” 

Ansem was stunned by what he was told and took a moment to process what was happening. “You’ve been dropping hints for six years?”

Ventus nodded and let out a sigh as he released his friend’s shirt. “I think you’re the only one who hadn’t figured it out, even Terra figured it out three years ago.” 

Ansem let out a sigh as he processed the fact that Terra had realized something before him, it was almost insulting in a way that he couldn’t even explain. He took a step forward, letting his head rest on his friend’s shoulder as he hugged him. 

“I haven’t dated anyone in about 12 years, I don’t even know where I should start.” he mumbled as he felt hands rubbing his back softly. 

“We should start with the obvious part, do you think you would be able to try dating?” Ventus asked while he tried not to push his friend too far out of his comfort zone. 

“If it’s you, I know I’ll be fine.” Ansem replied before pulling away and offering his friend a smile. “I did ask you out on a date after all, didn’t I?”

Ventus bit back a laugh and lightly flicked the other man’s forehead. “You did. Come on, let’s go back out before the kids come looking for us.”


End file.
